Phedippidations

The Podcasts

Personally, I’ve never really needed the changing of the calendar year as a reason to set and keep a resolution: so any promises I’m going to make are probably a continuation of what I’ve been working towards for the past few years; although I do have a few running-specific resolutions that I’ve set and intend to see through.2009 is finally over and 2010 is upon us. The phrase “Out with the old, in with the new” creates images of hope for a new year, where war and violence come to an end, where the hungry are fed, the sick are healed and the global economic crisis is resolved. Albert Einstein said it best when he said “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow”. The New Year gives us all a clean slate from which to re-create parts of our live for all the roles we play in life. Here’s a wish that the runners in us, have an injury free, PR setting 2010, and that we all enjoy the happiness of a year in motion.Happy New Year.

In the spirit of all those old cheesy classic television holiday variety show specials by the Osmond Brothers, Bob Hope, Donny and Marie, and the Smothers Brothers: I present for you my first Holiday PodCast Variety Show Special complete with special guests, a musical act, and comedy sketches created to make your season merry and bright.

I don’t expect this episode to become a holiday classic, but it will keep you company as you get a long run in on a cold winters day!

Browning Ross was a talented runner, coach, spokesman, leader and proponent of distance running; at a time when there weren’t too many runners in the world who could actually finish a marathon.

It was through his hard work and passion, that road races in the United States are so popular today.He made it his mission to spread the word about long distance running, and create the buzz which would lead to the Great Running Boom of the 1970’s.

Running a race with a friend is always a good thing because the friendly rivalry will tend to push you past your own comfortable limits. When I first started running back in December of 1998, I would run every day with a good friend at work; and we would push each other to finish as fast and as strong as we possibly could. I averaged a 9:10 pace back in those days for my daily and long runs…guess what that pace run over 26.2 miles would get me?

If I had run the race on my own today, I most certainly wouldn’t have pushed myself too hard: I’m still weeks away from the start of my Spring marathon training, and I just had no reason to push myself too hard, risking possible injury.

I had a lot to be thankful for on this day of Thanksgiving; I had my family, my job, my health, and an ankle that was strong enough to let me run a road race. I had the gift of an entry into Boston, and a good training plan to get me there, with that goal of a sub 4 hour race in the new year not too hard to belive. And today; I was thankful that my friend Joe challenged me in this 5 mile road race; pushing me to do my best and making me feel like I really might be; once again: Steve Runner.

When you inspire someone to take to the road, to join us as runners: you are filling them with the same passion that you have for this sport, you are influencing their behavior by showing them what it means to live this lifestyle. It’s not about looking thin and healthy; although that is a cool consequence of running: it’s feeling good, having a sense of pride in being able to run for a certain distance: and if you can inspire even just one other human being to lace up their shoes and become a runner: you will have made the world just a little bit better than before they did; and like a healthy infection: that person you inspired might go on to inspire someone else, maybe a few people…and they’ll inspire others, and so on, and so forth until we have this exponential growth in the number of fellow runners AND, more importantly: healthy people who are living their lives to the top and living with a better quality of life than they did before you inspired them to run.

I’ve said before that a podcast is better than a radio show because it embraces communication through social media; in fact: better than that…it IS social media, independent podcast producers can honestly call those who subscribe to their content: Friends; and really mean it. Despite the commercial advertisements on this show; I’m not really going overboard in trying to sell you something…I might recommend some products or services that I think are pretty cool, but the unspoken truth is that it’s rare for anyone producing a podcast today to “sell out” their audience, and we certainly work hard to stay connected.

I get a lot of email that I don’t read on this show that is angry, hurtful and hateful…the hate you can appreciate I will avoid, but if you disagree with me: that’s okay.

Why?

Because we’re having a conversation, we’re creating a social bond; and while time and distance will probably negate our ever being able to meet in person, and share a glass of wine, pint of cold ale or a steaming hot coffee: We can use this social media of podcasting, and these responses by email, Twitter and Facebook to create this community; this Run Net Community as we share the open road together and with others.

In this episode, I’ll answer some emails and enjoy some good conversations with fellow runners.

Human beings have always feared the unknown and unknowable. Desperate for cures to our everyday ailments and those conditions and illnesses which cause pain and death, we are willing to try anything that we can justify as a reasonable remedy. Runners, who are often prone to injury, are especially vulnerable to medical quackery. Take a walk around the Health and Fitness Expo of the Boston Marathon, and you’ll find all sorts of samples of alternative medicines, with products and services that claim to relive pain, help you run faster and longer and prevent injury.

Beware promises of un-tested alternative medical treatments or any medical therapy that remains untested by science. Do not fall prey to the lies and false claims of alternative medical practitioners who seek to cheat you with magical magnets, suspicious serums and tacky treatments. Trust your doctor and science, and accept the validity of scientifically proven medical therapies regardless of how complex and unnatural these things may sometimes seem.

Remember that there are people like Jenny McCarthy in the world who would like nothing more than for you to avoid receiving a flu shot; for her own purposes….be that to sell a book, claim her fame or get her nose picked face back on MTV….there are charlatans, impostors, con artists, frauds and quacks out there who think nothing of causing you harm through making you believe that un-tested alternative medicines and medical treatments are the best and only way to cure you, keep you healthy and improve your performance on the road.

This is the first part in a series I’ll produce over the next year, regarding my efforts to run a sub four hour marathon.

For me, the goal of running a Marathon in less than 4 hours is important to accomplish for many reasons including self confidence, a feeling that I’ve reached a new level in my running, reclamation of my inner youth, setting an example for my son, earning the respect of those who understand what a sub four means, and being able to look back at my trials and tribulations on the road over the past ten years with a new sense of appreciation for the hard work I’ve put in.

A sub four hour marathon finish will mean that I have stepped it up a notch, even if it’s the only sub four I may ever run; and it will be a personal record that I’ll savor and find pride in with the knowledge that even as a middle aged, middle of the pack slightly asthmatic goofy little podcaster runner: I can do anything.

I present for you another one of my annual gadgets and gizmos review shows for some ideas on running gear and Apparatus that you might give your fellow runners for the holidays.

But I also ask you to think about the idea of giving the gift of yourself this holiday season.Maybe, instead of heading to the shopping malls this year, you should head to your calendar and start picking out a day or two a week where you’ll make a point of going out to dinner or have a few beers or cup of coffee with a friend you haven’t spent enough time with this year. Better yet, why not plan to go for a run with a friend?

Life is short fellow runners…you know this; and one of the main obstacles to enjoying this life is all the stuff that we clutter ourselves up with: physical things like geeky Motorola Droid cell-phones, mp3 players, laptops, big screen TV’s and electronic game consoles….I’m not saying that those things aren’t cool: they are; but they pale in comparison to friendship; all we really have to spend here on this planet is time….we convert some of that time into money though employment in order to support our families and live a life with more and better stuff; but the STUFF should not be the purpose of our work...because all we have is time; and we need to use that time in a way that brings joy to ourselves and others.

In the course of a long weekend, my friend Joe and I would explore the coastline and harbors of the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia.We’d check out rock formations and earthen cliffs, lighthouses and small finishing villages; tidal plains and earthen dykes.We have lunch at a local German café, we’d investigate an outcropping of Devonian limestone in a place called Morden and taste locally created wine in vineyards around the Valley…in short, we’d see the sites, run the course, and race the race in our excursion around the bay.

This is my race report for the Fourth Annual World Wide Festival of Races and my running of the Wolfeville, Nova Scotia Valley Harvest Half Marathon.

In this special episode of Phedippidations Intervals, Joe Steindl interviews podcast host and Run Net Community member: Steve Runner, asking him 20 of the most mind numbing, heart revealing questions that listeners to his goofy little podcast have always NEEDED to know.

Nothing lasts forever in this physical universe of ours. We can talk about the eternal world to come, the kingdom of Heaven, Nirvana, Tian, the Celestial, Terrestrial and Telestial kingdoms, the six heavenly planes of Hinduism and the 8 levels of heaven in Islam…but this planet that we ran upon today, this place: will not last.

The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and in 7.59 billion years from today, it will be dragged from our solar orbit by our sun which will have grown to be 256 times as big as it is today: and the race course of the World Wide Festival of Races will be consumed in fire, forever.

But I have to wonder, what will our evil Robot overlords: or any advanced alien civilization that learns about us over the next 7.59 billion years: come to think about us?

Will they struggle to understand why we went to war with one another?

Why we murdered and killed each other?

Will they dedicate eons in trying to figure out why we’d gather millions of each other into concentration camps and systematically torture and destroy each other?

Would they try to figure out why we’d kidnap a noble people from a beautiful savannah, stuff them into sailing ships and sell them as property to wealthy people in a new land?

What would they say about a shoe company that treated their workers as slaves, paying them only a few dollars a day and not caring that they had to live in slums while their CEO and sports star promoters earned millions without concern?

I have an answer: they’d think WE WERE STUPID.

Yeah, that’s what they’d think: they’d have come to the conclusion that our species had evolved to suffer from a form of brain damage. They’d be happy to know that our planet was about to be consumed by the Sun…they’d consider us as a biological disease in the universe; unintelligent and defective.

An intelligent and advanced alien species would pick apart our genome, see that we differed by only ZERO POINT TWO PERCENT, and conclude that whatever caused us to hate each other: it couldn’t be because of the color of our skin, or from what continent on the little blue bubble we originated from… there could be no other explanation: humans had to be stupid.

But if they could see us now, today: running this World Wide Festival of Races; they’d think differently. They’d have to. Because today, we’re celebrating our community regardless of our differences; in fact: today we celebrate our differences.

This planet is small. It’s a tiny blue bubble of life cruising through the cold vacuum of space, and it’s the only place that we’ve been able to find which can support life. Think of this Earth as a life-raft, adrift on it’s own in the Universe…it’s more than just our home: it’s all that we have…that and each other.

Today you’re running in an event that celebrates that: we live on a small little rocky life raft, but we have each other…to care for, to cheer for, and to encourage. Our lives on this rock are short, but they should be long enough for us to experience love, joy and peace with each other as friends. Fellow runners: this wasn’t some small thing you did today, and today wasn’t just another run: you participated, you proved by your example that whatever differences we have in thought, opinion, and observation is what makes our time here, in this Universe special and interesting. We are so much alike, you and I…and those little differences that we do have, are something to savor: like the nose of a Cabernet Franc over that of a Malbec…they’re both vitis vinifera, but what makes them different is remarkable, and when you blend them together…well, my friends….you get something magical, like a mertiage or a Bordeaux where the sum of it’s ingredients combine to make a wine worthy of sharing with the world.

We are like those grapes, our differences enhance the flavor of our community, and as you run your World Wide Festival of Races today…think about how much we have to give to the world around us….in living this lifestyle, of savoring our time on the road, of sharing our experiences from the perspective of our own bodies and how we have no room for hate in our lives…not when there are miles to be run, and friends to be made.

The song “The World We Are a’Racin” was by the band “Moneypenny, Walker, Chopper and Scott” with apologies to Mr. Dylan; lyrics by Steve Chopper (http://www.amilewith.me.uk ), vocals by Phil Moneypenny (http://www.runcast.tv ) and some annoying American who apparently thinks he can sing, along with instrumentals and vocals by Gordon Scott. Check out the musical talent of a good friend and bad boy of running at http://tiree.blogspot.com

ChiRunning is a new technique that incorporates traditional Lydiard style training with moving more efficiently, more in tune to the way our bodies were intended to run. It requires and provides a special sense of self awareness of our environment, our bodies and our movement through space. To practice ChiRunning is to embrace a style of running that gives more emphasis to running form and less focus on speed.

ChiRunning makes many promises about your health, freedom from running injury, better self contemplative on the road meditation and with all that: peace of mind. It’s an excellent example of a revolutionary running technique designed to improve your condition and performance on the road. While the science is inconclusive on the benefits of Tai Chi, the personal observations and impressions of its practitioners gives weight to the argument that it’s good for you…and that has a direct reflection on the benefits and worth of ChiRunning: a program designed to help you run long, run strong, and feel one with the road.

I read every one of your emails, although I’m sorry to admit that I can’t always respond. I want to, I really do…were this production my full time job; email responding would be a welcome addition to my weekly task list; but like you: I have a family to feed, a career to attend to, a sick dog to worry about, my training to embark in, injury to overcome and this podcast that I feel called to produce (however scary that notion might sound).

So I’ll respond as best I can, right here on the show….and if you email me, or leave a comment at SteveRunner.com, the discussion forum or at http://twitter.com/steverunner I’ll always read what you write; ALWAYS…and I’ll do my best to answer; even if only here on this goofy little podcast.

Health Care is a system of rules and services, offered to help individuals become and remain healthy. Here in the United States, the term Health Care has caused a lot of stress and anger about how our government is going to provide these services and how much each of us will have to pay. I’m here today, offering a different, more effective and certainly more personal solution to what’s been called the American Health Care Crisis…it might seem a bit revolutionary, possibly radical for me to suggest a plan that calls for us to become personally responsible for our own health by protecting ourselves from influenza, eating well and exercising at a certain level and duration each week.

We can chose to be healthy; it’s not a right protected under any governments constitution, but there is a moral obligation for us to live healthier lives so we can contribute in a positive way to the society in which we live. This radical plan for health care is far less expensive than any program the government could offer, and it’s guaranteed to work: giving you a healthy body and consequently a happier life for the rest of your life.

"There is a discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; and millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich; and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing evils, but they are common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility toward the sufferings of our fellows.But we can perhaps remember - even if only for a tirne - that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek - as we do - nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.”

- Senator Robert F. Kennedy

Please listen to this special episode of Phedippidations, and ask your friends (runners and non-runners alike) to listen to this interview with Jim Keady from Team Sweat and Educating for Justice.

If you never listen to another of my podcast episodes again, I’ll ask you to at least listen to this one with an open heart and mind.

As a member of our Run Net Community, you have the power and responsibility to force Nike (and other companies who take advantage of the poor) to treat their workers with dignity and respect.Help Jim Keady and become a member of Team Sweat: to direct and encourage Nike to “just do it” and pay fair wages to their workers.

PLEASE donate what you can to the 501(c)(3) non-profit tax exempt Team Sweat.

There is an immediate and urgent need for $3K so that Team Sweat can promote presentations and grass roots organizations at College and High School Campuses, as well as in Indonesia. Contribute online or send a check paid to the order of “Educating for Justice”. Mail to:

The Pose Method of running incorporates some interesting concepts that may be worth your consideration. It’s a biomechanical model that has you landing on your mid-foot with your supporting joints flexed at impact and hamstrings used to pull your foot from the ground, using gravity to move you forward. It’s a method that takes a lot of practice, some say it can take years to perfect: but the promises are impressive: stronger, faster and injury free running.

Like any running technique, this is something you should look into more; and not rely on this podcast introduction as your sole exposure to the method. Find the way to use your body to it’s fullest without moving in such a way that you’ll get injured and you’ll be closer to becoming the runner and good animal you were always meant to be.

Some called him Suuri Vaikenija "A Great Silent One" but to the world he was known as “The Flying Finn”. During the 1920s, he was the best middle and long distance runner in the world, setting world records at distances between 1500 m and 20 km. He is often considered the greatest Track & Field athlete of all time: This is Paavo Nurmi. From

Paavo we learn the importance of complete dedication; while most of us seek to lead a balanced life as a way to achieve happiness, Paavo Nurmi was all about focusing on a single goal: he yearned for perfection, he demanded nothing less of himself than excellence and while this unbalance in his life may not have given him the joy that he might otherwise have had; it did give him one thing: victory.

We need to recognize the fact that, through cultural changes, we have evolved. It is through modern humanities incompatibility with our natural environment that we are beginning to dysevolve. The Dysevolutional Runner is one who lives in this environment of fast food non-pedestrian and embraces her or his inner hunter gatherer.

Professor Daniel Lieberman, Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University, says that "Dysevolution is a positive feedback loop." When we work to treat the symptoms of our lack of physical exercise and don’t take to the roads and run, we are making the problem worse.

That’s why it’s so important for those of us who run to be positive examples for others; to be the good animals we have evolved into: homo sapien hunter gatherers endowed with the ability to run long distances to find our food across the open savannah; to serve Gods purpose for making the world a better place with these bodies that He has created through the process of evolution.

This episode ends with another one of those “angry rants” that I sometimes get into. In the course of this rant I will describe a certain board chairman and his company as EVIL.

I took a few days after I recorded that to think deeply about what I had said. I re-listened to my rant with the idea that I might want to remove it from the show; and decided (in the end) to leave it as is; because after spending many hours of doing research on the subject (as well as refreshing my understanding of the concept of what evil is:(“1. morally bad or wrong; wicked, malevolent, sinful. 2. causing an undesirable condition, as ruin, injury, or pain; harmful, injurious”) I came to the honest conclusion that my premise regarding the owners/leaders of this corporation and indeed the corporation itself was, indeed EVIL.

Defamation: the malicious and false communication given to present a negative image of an individual, product, group, government or nation.

The burden of proof to my declaration that the individual and company mentioned in this podcast is EVIL, is with that person and company. They have to prove that they are NOT the cause for the human abuse and suffering found in the overwhelming evidence.

I don’t consider myself morally superior to these parties; I’m just calling it as I see it. It’s not fun to toss around the “E” word; and I’m a big believer in repentance and reconciliation; and this company is NOT the ONLY giant freakin’ corporation guilty of being EVIL…but they are the biggest and most prominent and thus fair game for asking of them the question “Why?”

My advice? Don’t listen to the ending diatribe of this episode on a full stomach; some of you might not like to hear it. I admittedly went a bit over the top on this one, even though my facts are verifiable. I’ll probably regret this; but I’m only human: and I got really angry about this issue.

In a way, the reason I produce Phedippidations is so I can make the world just a tiny bit better than it was before I started to produce this podcast. I understand that this is something I’ll most likely fail at and that my efforts here might be considered a colossal waste of time, however noble and altruistic this might seem. BUT: there’s always that small conditional word “IF”.

As in: IF I can inspire just one human being, who might by accident listen to this goofy little podcast and become inspired to rise off the couch of doom to live a better and more happier life: then fellow runners; I’m here to tell you: MISSION FRIGGIN ACCOMPLISHED! That will be a day for a celebratory glass of Malbec: because that’s all it takes: just change the world for a single human being among us, and we will have satisfied our purpose in this life…we will have made an improvement through our examples….that’s the challenge: life your life in a way that inspires others to lace up their shoes and take to the road with us, and you’ll have made the universe just a little bit better than it was before they were so inspired.

This life is a gift, and my reasons for producing Phedippidations is both to celebrate the gift and serve a purpose that is much MUCH more important than this middle aged, middle of the pack, slightly asthmatic fellow runner.

Why do I produce Phedippidations each week? Because, in a way, although it’s not easy to explain, and certainly not at noble as it sounds…that’s what feel like I’m called to do.

Thank you so much for supporting me over these past four years and 200 episodes. It is both a pleasure and an honor to call you a fellow runner.

A podcast should be an expression of yourself, with a deep and open honesty that reveals all of the good things in your heart, as well as your weaknesses. A podcast should not be a “show” per se, it should be a conversation: it should have as many audible elements that fit your personality and the truth of who you are. Fear of being honest is perceived by the listeners…and if you’re doing it right: you’ll not think of those who subscribe to your podcast as mere “listeners”, they’re fellow runners…lending you their ears and their time as you share something of each other through a very personal and intimate new form of media.

This is my podcast, Phedippidations…but it’s also your podcast…and if you’ll take the time to produce your own audio content for your fellow runners to run with; you’ll be producing something that we will feel ownership of: that’s because we’re really, honestly, truthfully sharing the road with these episodes…encouraging each other with words, prayers, hopes, dreams and an all too realistic experience in the Run Net Community.

Today, I’m going to read you an abridged version of another book by Thoreau, this one titled Walking, which Thoreau written in 1861. This was an essay that was presented as a lecture and published after his death in 1862, this essay, lecture and book has become one of THE most important written works in the environmental movement.

So why am I reading this on a podcast about running? Is it because I canoed up the Allagash River Waterway in the Maine North Woods where Thoreau himself spent time and experienced the beauty of the wilderness? Partly, yes. But it’s also because I think his message is important, especially today where technology is daring to alter the very nature of our tiny blue bubble in space. This Earth is all we have, the other celestial possibilities for distant continents such as the Moon and Mars are volatile places or rock and rust, deadly radiation and bitter cold.

Henry David Thoreau saw the beauty of nature and sought to impress upon his readers a desire to preserve it. “….In Wildness is the preservation of the World” he wrote. And on the Allagash River, in the wilderness that he so loved; I can think of no better way to tell you of his thoughts, opinions, observations and rambling diatribes.

You and I are fellow runners; and we run across the same blue bubble that Thoreau walked upon. Listen carefully to his message and think about how precious our world really is.

A conversation is an informal talk with someone about opinions, ideas, feelings or everyday matters. A good conversation is an interaction between two or more people, where questions are either explicitly asked or implied.

When summer rears its oppressive head of high humidity and heat, fellow runners must take to the road with the solar conditions in mind and heed the warnings to ensure a safe and comfortable run. Acclimatization is an important precursor to taking to the hotter than usual roads, and the better our bodies can adapt to the heat, the greater our performance will be once we put these bodies to the test in a race.

There will come a day when, here in the Northeast, the days will shorten, the leaves will fall and the cold harsh reality of winter will settle around us: but not today, because today the earth tilts sunward in our favor, today the road heats up and our bodies have to adapt to the time before us: because our running goes on despite the conditions that exist outside our doors: we are runners, this is what we do, and our bodies have the incredible ability to adapt to the climate which occurs here in the summertime.

The Bunion Derby was an event like no other, and there will never be another like it. While there have been many cross continental races since 1928, none were organized in the way that C.C. Pyle had organized the event: it was an endurance race, a circus and a harsh and unforgiving competition.

In his book “C. C. Pyles Amazing Foot Race: the true story of the 1928 coast to coast run across America, by Geoff Williams, published by Rodale Press…the author writes “As difficult as his amazing foot race was, for all the car collisions and nervous breakdowns involved, calling it the Bunion Derby was never quite accurate. As winter turned to spring in 1928, the runners suffered blisters, brusies, boils, shin splints, charley horses, sore toes, broken and fallen arches, corns and calluses: but not one of them developed a bunion.”

There’s this rumor going around that distance runners are more prone to developing arthritis, a medical condition from by the Greek word “arthro” meaning joint and “itis” meaning inflammation. Many non-runners and medical laypersons have assumed that the constant repetitive pounding forces on our joints, especially in the knees, as we run are too much for our bodies to absorb. In this weeks episode I’ll go through some of the scientific medical research on the subject and present an answer to the question: are runners at higher risk for developing arthritis?

NOTE: I didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it during this episode, but this marks my fourth year producing Phedippidations and I wanted to be sure to thank you, at least here in the show notes, for your friendship, kindness and support over these past 1,461 days since episode #1. It continues to be an honor to run with you.

From a small island in the middle of southern Maine’s Sebago Lake, I present for you my annual review of some of my favorite songs from the past year of Phedippidation episodes. This week, I’m on vacation: giving my ankle a chance to heal and my soul a break from stress as I enjoy my family, lapping waves, a few good books and delicious wine.

Beware the contents of this episode, ye who come here to listen to the runner boy run! In this episode, I go out for a run and just let my mind flow, talking about a few things that may or may not have to do with running.

Of particular interest (to me at least) is the contemplation of the ship of Theseus’s, the discussion of which might may you say “Huh?”

We are made of stuff that has a limited shelf-life, but most of the atoms in your body will be completely replaced in just 10 years time, and if you believe in an eternal life after this stuff we wear is gone; then you’ll not worry so much about these bodies of ours breaking down over time: because time is just a construct and we all have a limitless warrantee.

This episode is a review of a study published last month in the American Journal of Cardiology titled “Relation of Biomarkers and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging After Marathon Running”.

We use terms and phrases such as “you’ve got to have heart” and “don’t go breakin’ my heart” as a reference to the symbolic vessel we have within us to harbor our capacity to love.

In reality the heart is an important organ, strategically located in the center of our bodies to provide oxygen rich blood throughout the vessels of our body as a means to sustain life. While these bodies we inhabit are amazing creations, capable of running great distances…it’s important to take care. We’re all soft and squishy creatures; resilient yet fragile, strong yet capable of suffering injury…when you pull a leg muscle or sprain an ankle: you can apply ice and deep massage: it’s not so easy to do that with our hearts.

Training for any distance, any kind of race event: especially for distances like a marathon requires proper training; many of the experts suggest that you don’t even start training to run a marathon until you’ve been out on the road consistently for a full year.

Never, EVER start a marathon training program until you’re doctor gives you the green light…it’s one thing to have to deal with shin splints and muscle soreness, but your heart needs to be prepared for the stress you’ll put it under; out there on the road.

As simple and exhausting as it sounds: running can be your purpose in life; and if you’re already a runner as I suspect you are: then running can be a purpose you can give to others, by asking them to join us: by making this sport a game, by thinking of it as play and by embracing a lifestyle that helps you to improve the duration and quality of your life.

It’s short fellow runners, this life of ours is far too short…but it should be long enough; and when you find yourself with a purpose to live it, you’ll have savored each experience: you’ll have lived your life to the top, and you’ll have achieved the satisfaction of knowing that your life is not ruled by the random and chaos: your life has meaning, and above all your life has purpose.

They called him Arthur “Greatheart” Newton. He had been a runner in his twenties, but gave it up after a time, taking to the road again 12 years later when, at the age of 38, he ran his first Comrades Marathon. His contribution to distance running is great in that he chose to use common sense to guide his training methods, rather than formulas found in books on the subject of running. Dr. Tim Noakes, in his book “Lore of Running” outlines 9 of his principles of training that helped to guide Newton’s success in our sport, and revolutionized the way that coaches trained their athletes

This is one of those strange podcast episodes that merges a little of my personal life (you’ll hear us picking up our new Dog Indiana and bringing him home) along with some practical tips about exercising your dog and this history of the beagle.

It goes without saying that I have a lot to learn about dogs; and puppies specifically. While my wife has always owned a dog, growing up: this experience is new to the rest of us in my household. Will I make mistakes: count on it: he’ll end up chewing all my running shoes, leaving squishy wet mementoes as he marks his territory around the house: both inside and out and will undoubtedly follow me around the house as I try to get some work done with the less than few hours that he’ll allow me to sleep, which might beg the question: is this all worth it?

It is worth it to share your day with a creature who loves you unconditionally with all his heart, it is worth it to welcome into your home a being who constantly reminds you that it’s not the stress of life and work that is important it’s play: PLAY is all that really matters, and play is the most important thing we’ll do today and every day. Is it worth it to suffer the weariness of sleep deprivation, the indignation of having to take a puppy out to pee at 2 in the morning, the incontinence of veterinary visits thousands on food, care, crates, accessories and medication? Is it worth it to have what was starting to be a fairly comfortable life of leisure usurped by an animal that demands attention while giving devotion?

In this episode I present for you the major findings of Professor Daniel Lieberman of the Biological Anthropology department at Harvard University and Professor Dennis Bramble from the University of Utah in their 2004 paper published in the journal Nature titled “Endurance running and the evolution of Homo”. In this paper, they make the powerful case that “The fossil evidence suggests that endurance running is a derived capability of the genus Homo, originating about 2 million years ago, and may have been instrumental in the evolution of the human body form.”

We are by our very nature: endurance runners, meant to run for long distances. The evidence is overwhelming and conclusive: you and I were born to run.

A runner lives for the moment, and can rise to call of her or his own character to do what we know we have to do, for our bodies, for our training, for the promise we made to ourselves some time ago. We will have bad days, we will be haunted by the memories of a 4:01:31 finish in Philadelphia back in November of 2007, and we’ll look to our next marathons where we dream of running a sub four…but still, on those icy, rainy, blisteringly hot and humid days when work was a nightmare and everyone wants to carve a little chunk out of us...we find ourselves lacing up our shoes and living the life of a runner: a life nothing short: of present defense.

Ours is a social network of fellow runners who are using new media and the power of what has become known as Web 2.0 – a second generation of web development and design that facilitates communication, collaboration and above all: sharing of thoughts, opinions, observations and yes, even rambling diatribes.

There’s this question that philosophers and scientists, artists, writers and dreamers have asked for many centuries when they looked above into the heavens. That question is this: ARE WE ALONE?

The question is intended to inquire about the validity of the Drake equation and the possibility of intelligent life, or any life on worlds other than our own. It’s a question that, in it’s asking, evokes a sense of loneliness, as if we are adrift on a tiny blue bubble in space, far from communities in distant galaxies. If I had to guess, I’d say that there is life out there, and very likely intelligent life of some kind: I just don’t think our world and even the life that swarms upon it is entirely unique and special. If life got started here, it has to have started elsewhere, that’s just good science in search of good evidence.

But the notion that we are alone? That’s just silly, because as long as we have each other…as long as there are ways for us to experience a community together: no matter where on the tiny blue bubble we stand, we cannot and will not be alone. That’s more than just good science and logical reasoning: that’s a functioning reality based on many lines of evidence, not the least of which is found in the obvious fact that you’re listening to me right now on a podcast called Phedippidations, and many of us are running, together.

In this episode I will be completely honest and open up a little to tell you some things I’ve not previously revealed about me, and will run the 113th Boston Marathon with you. A marathon is a very open, public and sincere physical event that puts you out there: for better or worse, revealing all of your weaknesses, as well as physical and mental pressure points. A marathon forces you to face yourself in a very public and very introspective way.

I wasn’t supposed to run this race, and when I was a child the kids on the playground who once laughed at me when I dropped the ball said that I could never do such a thing. But today, I’m running a marathon…an event that is as much an analogy for life as anything you could cover in 26.2 miles. It correlates perfectly mile after mile for every period of your life, from cradle to grave: and it gives you the opportunity to do something special, amazing, inspirational and impressive.

I do not make my case here with an elitist attitude. I make my case with sound facts which, from my perspective, lends evidence to the fact that the Boston Marathon is, without a doubt and lacking hesitation from my lips to your ears: THE WORLDS GREATEST MARATHON.I made a statement on this podcast, three years or so ago regarding why it is that I’m a runner. Many reasons come to mind; but the one that always rises first and foremost in my thinking might not be one that others would expect from a soon to be twenty-time marathoner: I run because I love pizza and with Boston’s North End of wonderful Italian neighborhoods, from which my family is descended, I run towards Boston with the hope that there’s a slice waiting for me at the end.Show Links:www.americasbestonline.net/marathon.htmlhttp://www.bostonmarathon.orghttp://www.worldwidefestivalofraces.comFdip Blog of the Week: http://keepmovingkate.blogspot.com/Featured http://www.runningpodcasts.org PodCast: Adam 20The song “Pizza Day” was by Jonathan Coulton http://www.jonathancoulton.com

There’s something special that marks an elite athlete as a true running legend. It’s more than just their athletic appearance, their healthy bodies and the way they carry themselves when they enter a room. A running legend is someone who has a very humble confidence. Their eyes, voices and motions speak of having worked harder than most of us could ever imagine to reach a brief moment in their lives where they understood that they were experiencing something that only the very dedicated and passionate person could ever hope to experience. They are living examples of what we could be as good animals and good human beings.

Jacqueline Gareau is a running legend because she had that moment of glory stolen from her; but in her heart she knew what she had done that day. Her running is her art, and she showed us on a Spring day in Boston the a true champion celebrates victory in her heart, holds nothing back, and forgives silly transgressions…and when it came to her sport, Jacqueline Gareau made running seem effortless.

Only 17% of the course climbs at a rate of greater than 1%.I’ve learned many lessons from this course. The Boston Marathon has taught me to conserve on the downhills, and pace myself on the uphills. It’s taught me to have humility amid the cheering crowds, to smile despite the pain gastronomical discomfort, to savor the race as if it were my last, and to celebrate the achievement no matter how physically and mentally exhausted I might be at the end.

I’m not expecting to set a course PR or even come close to 4 hours in the 113th Boston Marathon. I am expecting to enjoy the day, and appreciate my life all the more.

Patriots Day will be a day to celebrate the successful completion of my 20th Marathon…a milestone of sorts that I can quite honestly feel proud of despite all the pain and weariness I’ve had to overcome.

Life is short, but it should be long enough: and I am grateful for my life and the time I’ve had and whatever happens to me on Marathon Monday will only add to my experience of this course, both of the Boston Marathon and the road of life.

To run the 113th Boston Marathon with minimal preparation I have to condition my body for constant and repetitive motion for at least five hours. What’s more, I must be able to carry the weight of my body on a gradual 16 mile course into Newton Lower Falls, up the hills of Newton and over a goofy little speed-bump, and finally down the other side past mile 22 with as much strength as I have left.

Traditional marathon training programs begin with a base and gradually work up to build strength and endurance, so this training program, more than the race itself, is the real test of how well the maintenance miles I’ve been running can prepare me for a race like the Boston Marathon.

Boston is more than just a race, and my efforts in these five weeks will be exhausting, painful, time consuming and demanding: but that’s what I’m compelled to do…and if there is such a thing as a siren song from the island of Sirenum Scopuli…the song I hear is coming from Hopkinton Massachusetts and I can’t help but show up on Patriots Day, ready to run as best I can.

Despite the scientific rational to the contrary, running in the morning as opposed to other times in the day has many personal benefits which may not seem obvious. We are human beings, called to embrace each day with a vigor and enthusiasm that demands hard work and strenuous effort. We are good animals, moving across the planets surface with purpose and power from the moment the sun rises over the horizon to enlighten our day. We are runners, and the world is our race course: and once they turn on the lights with the rising of that big yellow star in the sky, it’s time to start the whole human race.

The phrase “Taking it all in stride” means to get all you can get within a single step. As runners, we have a special appreciation for longer, stronger strides in that they ensure faster speeds on the open road, and combined with more frequent strides, can turn our back and middle of the pack efforts into something closer to the front. When we train, we are already prepared and pre-conditioned to expect speed work and strength work, long runs and the building on endurance: but within those efforts we also need to focus and dedicate ourselves to improving the quality of our natural strides…because it is in doing so that we improve our efficiency and speed in races and on the road.

This week I present for you the short story “The Winning Bug” written by Jackson Volney Scholz also known as the “New York Thunderbolt”.

Jackson Scholz was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the sprint, was born in 1897 and died on October 26th, 1986.

In the 1920s, he became the first person to appear in an Olympic sprint final in three different Olympic Games. He won the gold in Antwerp for the American 4x100 meter relay, he won the silver in the 100m race in the 1924 Paris games, losing to Britains Harold Abrahams as depicted in the movie Chariots of Fire, and he won the gold in those games in the 200 meter race.He also ran in the 1928 games in Amsterdam, finishing 4th in the 200 meters.

After his running career had ended, Jackson Scholz became well known for his writing, and today I’m going to read you one of his best short stories, an excellent first reading for what I intend to have as an ongoing feature of this podcast. “The Winning Bug”.

The greatest reward for producing a podcast like Phedippidations is the electronic messages that you are kind enough to send me, but there’s an old Scottish proverb that reads “What may be done at any time will be done at no time.”

Today I’m making an effort to find some time to go through my email inbox to answer some of the messages you’ve been kind enough to send me over the past three months. Despite good reason and a stressfully increasing workload, I’ve felt guilty for not answering your messages to me, and while I have read every email that I’ve received; my inability to find time to respond to you has been on my mind for quite some time.

If I can’t answer every email the least I can do is produce this podcast every week and go for a run with you. I can’t promise everything I’ll have to say here will be worthy of your listening; but I can promise to follow the same compass as you…heading in the same direction to better health and becoming a good animal.

There are so many beautiful places on this planet that you can find to go for a run which are beautiful, interesting, and memorable. If you are traveling for pleasure, business or any purpose: pack your running shoes, a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt; you’ll see the places you visit from a more interesting and intimate perspective and will be able not only to say you visited that place, but can boast quite proudly that you’ve run there.

In this episode of Phedippidations, I go on vacation to Florida and in the course of my journey I meet a good friend whom I’ve been hoping to meet for a very long time: THE Zen Runner himself: the great Adam Tinkoff.

In April of 1990, Arthur Lydiard gave a lecture in Osaka Japan as part of a clinic he conducted in Tokyo and Osaka. From that trip, numerous articles were written in running magazines all over the world, and the material he covered led to his publishing a book titled “Running With Lydiard”.

He is without a doubt one of the greatest athletic coaches of all time, and is credited with popularizing and inventing the sport of recreational running and jogging for health. His training methods were all about building a strong base and incorporating periodization and there are many world class runners today who give credit to the man for their impressive success on the track, fields and roads.

This is the exact spoken presentation of his Osaka lecture in conversational form that sometimes wanders outside the rules of grammatical perfection, it lacks the physical expressions that were transmitted during the lecture, and is often a stream of conscious thoughts that converge on more solid themes, but in this episode I’ll read \them exactly as they were spoken because: as a whole; the message is brilliant.

As runners, we all have questions; questions about our experiences on the road, questions about best practices as outlined by the experts, questions about the human body and the science regarding motion and our bodies, and even just questions about each other.How are you doing? How are you feeling?How’s your running going?Have any big races planned in the near future?What’s up?What’s going on?Did John Michael get his puppy yet?

As friends and fellow runners we have plenty of questions as part of an ongoing conversation that we have with each other every day.We are connected by a common interest, in this sport we call running: and with questions to spark new conversations, we offer answers to run with, out here on the road.

When friends hang out and go for a run, they talk about stuff like this, they ask questions of each other and look for answers as a way to get to know each other better.In this episode I’ll pose some of the questions asked by fellow runners, and attempt to answer each as best I can.This is the first Phedippidations Question and Answer Show.

The book George Sheehan on Running to Win, is a book of wisdom, sage advise and clinical recommendations from a well versed authority on health and fitness. Dr. Sheehan was someone who was passionate about our sport, and cited many reasons why all should join us on the road. Most of all, he promised us that the act of running is fun.

In his book “Running to Win” Dr. George Sheehan perfectly articulated what many of us have been thinking all along. We’re all winners when it comes to this sport, and running to win is to win, through running.

It doesn’t take a miracle or a magic pill, an incantation, self hypnosis or some new age marketing slick definition of the term “courage” to become a runner; it takes determination and dedication…it takes a desire to become a good animal in a physical sense, and a true winner in every sense of the word.

There are plenty of reasons why runners break. The human body is a fantastically robust and adaptable organism, but it has it’s physical limits that, despite our good intentions through hard and long runs…can often lead to injury. The problem is that our willpower is often far stronger than our bodies power to absorb stress.

You have within you the power to accomplish great things, and run impressive races…while at the same time you have the power to run yourself into the ground, and break that body that you’ve been fortunate enough to inhabit.

Always remember that our human bodies are amazing pieces of equipment but compared to the surface of the planet, they are just small squishy things…and you know what happens when you take a small squishy thing and throw it at the side of a mountain…it squishes.

Don’t squish yourself. Run long, fast and hard…but never over the physical limits that mark your own structural integrity. Your body can do great things, but not if you abuse and overuse it out here, on the road.

I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but the anniversary of my first breath on this planet’s ocean of oxygen takes place on the 19th of this month, just a few days after this show is available for download. It was of course 9 full months prior that I first came to be; and have been growing into a more complex organism ever since.

As my complexity increases, so do the ideas that get formed in my admittedly teeny tiny little brain…and like a balloon in the state of inflation, if I don’t get some of these ideas…both good, bad and frankly quite silly…out of the skull within which they are formed…well, like a balloon, something’s going to pop….and I don’t think you want to be left having to clean up the mess.

Thus we have an episode of this goofy little podcast dedicated to things not necessarily related to running; but let’s go for a run today, you and I…and I’ll do the talking about things that I’m thinking about…the thoughts, opinions, and observations that a soon to be 47 year old fellow runner congers up on a long run.

So let’s go for a run today. Let’s forget, for a moment, that this is a podcast, and that you’re listening to me with your ear bugs jammed in your head…consider that I’m just like you: although I’m betting you’re a little bit faster, healthier and undoubtedly better looking….and that we’re just going out for a run together. The world is moving on, increasing in velocity as the planet revolves, and orbits, and moves outward ever forward…bringing us specs of life with it; and while there’s no possibility or reason to ever stop that motion let’s go for a run today and create a little motion of our own….just you and me and that long road before us. Let’s go for a run.

Pain is the body’s way of telling us that something is wrong, and when we ignore those messages we are risking further and more permanent injury.

Myofascial trigger point pain syndrome is problematic because of the nature of referred pain, where a defect in the muscle can cause soreness elsewhere in the body. To resolve this kind of pain, you have to identify its true source, and apply massage as a preventive measure to overcome it. It takes patience and consistency to perform the stretches, exercises and massage that will help you to overcome trigger point associated pain, and allow you to run upon the open road, in comfort.

If you find yourself struggling to catch your breath during a race or on a particularly cold or humid day, you may have exercise induced asthma. Don’t let it prevent you from taking to the road and reaching your goals.

I have every intention of running and finishing future marathons, and I won’t let my exercise induced asthma keep me from running. There are treatments available to all of us who suffer with E.I.A. which can make our enjoyment of this sport continue through our lives.